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The end of the calendar year approaches, so it seemed appropriate to do a story focused all around time travel– be it to a time we have already been through, one that’s further back from our lifetimes, or one in the future that has yet to happen. In fact, Jackson Siegel was the one who suggested a lesson like this one, and it was a lot of fun to do! As usual, scroll for the lesson, and scroll down past that for everybody’s work.

1. Heroes will want to travel back in time to change the course of history, to help people. Sometimes, it may even be to save someone they failed to save at that time.

2. Villains will want to go back in time for the opposite reasons—world domination might be easier at another point in history, or perhaps, they were very close to accomplishing their evil deeds—and want to go back to the time that almost happened.

3. Normal people often want to go back for a variety of the above reasons—to fix or change something from the past—or, they wish to explore. Characters who are scientists often have MANY motivations for wanting to go to a period of time that already happened, in order to prove theories, finish experiments, and so on.

Think of a CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BOOK. You know how sometimes, you go to one option, and it ends up being the bad one? In time travel stories, some characters know they’ve already made a choice they didn’t like—and they want to go back, to make what they think was a better choice.

So, to sum it up, Characters—AND creators themselves, may want to make a Time Travel story for these reasons:

Time travel can be used humorously as well as more scientifically with the “Grandfather Paradox” commonly incorporated as a point of interest.

Characters (and the Creators putting them into stories) have many motivations. A character will want to travel through time for the same reasons a Creator will want that option in a story he’s writing:

Going back in time to right a wrong—this could be as simple as re-taking a test,

or as complicated as trying to stop a world war.

Going to the FUTURE to get unknown knowledge, to then bring back to the past.

Going back in time to a better time.

Going back in time to save somebody’s life.

They will USE these methods to actually travel

Time Machines—these can be as simple as a box with knobs, or look like a car.

Time and Space Portals.

Magic. (Think of “A Christmas Carol,” and the Ghosts of Past, Present, and

Future)

Cryogenic Freezing: This is not so much about time travel, but preserving

yourself without aging so in hundreds of years, you wake up and are suddenly,

seemingly, in the future!

As fans of the cartoon show “Phineas and Ferb,” you may have seen the episode where they travel through time—to the future—to find a tool that fuses metal with wood. The confusion that happens here is that Candace (who in the future is 35) follows them back through time, causing things to change in the present. She accidentally stops Agent P’s plan to defeat Dr. Doofenshmirtz, and she sets off a chain reaction that turns the future into a dystopian society. The kids are all very confused, and unable to tell Candace apart—because of the time travel, there end up being two of her at the same time.

This example shows some of the problems that can come about with Time Travelling: In some stories, you can end up with two versions of the same person, when you take a person from one time period, and either bring them back— or a character travels back in time, and sees his former self—problems can arise.

TIME TRAVEL ISSUES:

*DIVERGENT TIMELINES: This describes events that can be undone, or postponed, because time travelers mess things up. This is rather similar to…

*ALTERNATE FUTURES and HISTORIES: If traveling BACKWARDS through time, one can change the past, and therefore completely change what will happen later. Therefore, creating an alternate future, because of having altered history/the past.

*PARELLEL UNIVERSES: This one’s a bit tricky. This can happen when a time traveler tries to change the past, and does—but, it goes off on its own path. Parelell, in Geometry, is when two lines go next to each other and never touch. Paralell universes are similar.

Think of the “Choose your own Adventure” example: if each adventure/choice were to happen at the same time, and two versions of yourself each went down two different paths—they would be going on parallel universe journeys.

*GETTING WHAT YOU WISH FOR: This isn’t a scientific theme in sci-fi, but it is something time travelers deal with. It’s something all characters deal with—consequences for their actions, and some might not be fun.

If you go back in time, to get revenge on that bully who was mean to your Dad—you could set off a chain of events where he doesn’t meet your Mom, and therefore, you may not be born. Or, you could bring back an animal from another time period, that seems really cool—until it becomes unmanageable, and you can’t deal with it. Look below for a prime example of this.

Today’s Assignment –!!

Scroll down to see the work that the very creative Comics for Kids Meltdown students came up with on this theme!

First, we have the work of Jackson Siegel! He did a great mix of comics and drawings using detailed ink work with splotches of color to show his Time Travel ideas. His two character design drawings were greatly detailed and showed the personalities of the characters very well.

Next, we have the work of Milo Evaschen Using detailed bubbles and panels to tell his story, he created a detailed Time Travel tale! He employed ideas pertaining to time travel as well as being frozen– in which you sort of travel through time, by waking up in a new era but stay the same.

And for the finale, we have the work of Woody Tuttle! He worked diligently on character designs, as well as comic drawings, for this theme. The method that his characters used to travel was not a machine you physically went into, but actually a glove that would help transport one through time!

So, there it is– hope everyone enjoyed these pieces, and stay tuned for the next Meltdown Comics for Kids Recap. Happy Holidays –!!